When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Baddelay approaches 18 with a real, honest to goodness gallery (click to enlarge)People! What a miracle seeing live bodies return to the fairways Sunday in a retro L.A. Northern Trust Open finale thanks to fan-favorite Fred Couples and cooperative weather. The attendance figure never did make it in my hands but I'm sure it topped last year's 30,000 number.Kevin Na has his caddy line him up on tee and fairway shots. I can deal with that. But the plumb-bob putt reading does not belong on the PGA Tour.
(click to enlarge at your own risk)
Five hours and 17 minutes for the Northern Trust Open final round, breaking Saturday's five hour and 20 minute marathon. The people were heard.
Nick Tabakoff reports that Greg Norman has lost in court trying to get out of paying a massive sum ($6730.71) in termination/vacation pay to Joanne Dwyer, the office administrator of his shuttered Sydney course design firm. This sounds like a most noble cause the Shark and his legal team took up:
John Huggan talks to Chubby Chandler about the need (in his view) for the PGA and European Tours to coordinate events better and essentially expand the WGC concept, which has done little for lesser events on the two tours.
Cameron Morfit feeds off of the lastest Dustin Johnson mistake, puts it into a blender with other boondoggery from today's next great things, and asks the legitimate question: what would Tiger do?
The scribes enjoyed Freddie's post-round press conference so much, they wrote about it, starting with Bill Dwyre.
Fans could listen in on Geoff Ogilvy and Squirrel discussing options (click to enlarge)A glorious day at Riviera and while the gallery was meager compared to the glory days of the 90's, an improvement over last year. Though the surroundings are special and the opportunity to walk a course of Riviera's stature are a treat, I was struck several times at just what a different spectating experience older courses provide compared to a TPC.
Sure, the sight lines are not as great when the gallery swells and amphitheater or grandstand seating is not available, but the ability to get close to players and eavesdrop on conversations when they hit wayward drives is unlike anything else in sport. The PGA Tour noted this in its clever Sunday newspaper wrap, and it's something they need to continue to drive home when possible.
Even with no wind and pristine conditions, Riviera held its own thanks to sneaky fast greens, the vagaries of kikuyu and some thought provoking hole locations. Doug Ferguson reports on the wacky 9-way tie for first, while John Strege filed blog posts on Bubba Watson's WD and Bob Harig reports on Dustin Johnson's 2-stroke lateness penalty. And as noted previously, there was Anthony Kim's truly terrible luck.
A few other images from our last day of sun until Sunday.
The question everyone was asking today was answered by the stunningly cluttered but still pretty to look at ShotLink videoboards. (Click to enlarge)
Lucas Glover kindly asked Lunde, Vegas and Bradley to pause while he played through. They were on No. 7, he was playing the 15th. (click to enlarge)
Phil Mickelson drives at No. 9 (click to enlarge)
Late light at No. 16 as players approach (click to enlarge)
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
